GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Housing costs are up, making it harder for many families to afford their own home.

• One volunteer was able to get a home of her own with the help of the organization
• She paid off her house in and still helps gives others that opportunity
• Since 1987, the organization has helped more than 400 families in the Greensboro

Data from the National Association of Home Builders shows in 2012, a family making the median income could afford more than 80 percent of homes on the market in North Carolina. Last December, that number was down to about 65 percent.

Habitat Greensboro is working harder to bridge that gap. A volunteer working on the group's first all-woman build says a home of her own felt out of reach until the organization helped her.

“I was an accounting clerk here in Greensboro for several years, but I still didn’t make enough to have a decent place to live,” said Cheskesha Cunningham-Dockery. “I still lived in public housing.”

She paid off her house in 2016, but she still helps Habitat give others that opportunity.

“All of our families are working families, hard-working families, but they barely make enough to make a home payment,” said Maria Hanlin, CEO Habitat Greensboro. “And when they move into a Habitat house they’re usually paying a third, even a half, of what they’ve typically been paying in rent for an apartment.”

Since 1987, the organization has helped more than 400 families in the Greensboro area buy homes.